10 Movie Remakes We’re Actually Looking Forward To

Good news for Coen Brothers fans (and really, if you’re not one, we’re not quite sure what to do with you): their long-circulating script for Gambit, a remake of the 1966 British caper, goes before the cameras this May, with freshly Oscared Colin Firth in the leading role, Cameron Diaz as his leading lady, and Soapdish director Michael Hoffman at the helm. While we’d be a tiny bit more excited if the Coens were directing it themselves, this is still good news — especially because their True Grit was that rarest of beasts, a remake that respected (and, in our eyes anyway, topped) the original.

It’s no secret that Hollywood has gone remake crazy; along with endless sequels and mindless 3-D, the film business’s insistence on remaking any movie made before 1990 that turned more than a five dollar profit is perhaps its most irritating quality. But lest we forget, The Maltese Falcon was a remake; so were The Thing, The Departed, and Scarface. So, in the interest of putting a positive spin on remake-mania, we took a look at the dozens of remakes in the pipeline and found ten that we’re genuinely excited about. Check them out after the jump.All Quiet on the Western Front

This one benefits from being a remake of a film so old that its original audience barely remembers it or is, y’know, no longer with us. Most of those who watch it these days are high-school kids who don’t want to read the book. Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, is reportedly attached to star. The original film was awfully good (it was the third winner of the Best Picture Oscar), though a new film free of Hays Office strictures may capture the novel’s scenes of war with greater power. The remake is scheduled for a 2012 release.